Billy Joel has said that his 1982 song “Laura” was strongly influenced by John Lennon, whose murder had taken place shortly before Joel wrote it. In a 2026 interview, Joel recalled deliberately adopting a Lennon-like vocal delivery after producer Phil Ramone noted the resemblance, making the track a personal musical tribute as well as an example of Lennon’s continuing influence on contemporaries.

“Laura”, from Joel’s album The Nylon Curtain, portrays a damaging relationship but was written about Joel’s mother, including imagery of an uncut umbilical cord. Joel also saw late-Beatles influences in its “la la” vocals and guitar break, and later connected its emotional depth to Lennon’s 1970 song “Mother”; the article additionally draws a speculative parallel between the song’s troubled attachment and Mark David Chapman’s disillusionment with Lennon.